Symbolic geographies: travels and books of travel in the nineteenth-century Lithuanian culture

Until the nineteenth century travel was generally a privilege of the wealthy and of the traditional elite. Wealthy Lithuanian gentry liked to travel abroad, and the main purpose of such trips was to get acquainted with the political systems of the more developed societies. Making a pilgrimage was popular, too. For the rest of society, opportunities to travel appeared only after the construction of the railway line from St Petersburg to Warsaw via Vilnius in the 1860s. Pleasure trips or tourism became a favourite pastime of the middle gentry and rich inhabitants of the town. They usually travelled to Western Europe, mostly 'Germany, to undergo a course of spa treatment. It is noteworthy that at that time the character of travels changed as well - trips within the country became the vogue. In the middle of the nineteenth century the publication of travel books intensified. Their authors (Teodor TVipplin, Adam H. Kirkor, Władysław Syrokomla, etc.) considered their main aim to remind the readers of the glorious past of their former state - the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Well- known places - castles, churches, monasteries - were usually included in the itineraries, and special attention was paid to historic information. Therefore such publications often looked like textbooks on history. The travel accounts also contained some beautiful writing about the picturesqueness of landscapes, which contrasted with the deplorable social and political reality. Sociological comment - the description of the everyday life and local customs of common people - were an inherent part of such travel stories. As a rule, such travel stories were written in Polish, and Lithuanian publications also started to appear in the sixties. The latter were meant primarily for the peasants. Comprising some historical facts, practical information on meteorological phenomena, geography, etc., they were to develop their readers’ literacy, consciousness and morality. Russian officials also published a few accounts of their travels. They usually focused attention on administrative problems, emphasized the positive aspects of social reforms (the abolition of serfdom)) the loyalty of the people to the regime, the historicity of Russian culture in Lithuania, etc